New Tools Needed for Gauging Digital Markets Competition, DOJ Antitrust Chief Says
Antitrust law's consumer welfare standard can play a role in addressing competitive threats posed by new developments in technology such as digital markets and platforms, said DOJ Antitrust Division Chief Makan Delrahim Tuesday at the Jevons Institute Colloquium in Rome,…
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according to prepared remarks. Outputs are difficult to measure for companies like social media networks, but other indicators of consumer welfare -- innovation, choice and quality -- deserve more attention in looking at digital markets' competitive effects, though they can be difficult to quantify, he said. Innovation is inherently disruptive, and competition policy should encourage existential threats to incumbents from new entrants, he said. Elimination of choice isn't inherently suspect, but a merger that would give the combined entity incentive and ability to undermine innovative competitors offering new product choices could be grounds for enforcement action, he said. When it comes to media and technology companies, quality "is best captured as the entire customer experience," he said. Delrahim said there should be consideration whether "net promoter score" -- the measurement of whether customers or users are likely to recommend or bad-mouth a product -- or other benchmarks can measure quality as a byproduct of competition.